Iron Man
by Coulson is a Beast
Summary: The rise of Tony Stark and the birth of Iron Man...Part of my Marvel Universe will tie-in with other stories that I will be writing, keep an eye on my profile if you want to read the other stories
1. Prologue: Pain

**This story is part of my own personal Marvel Universe that I am in the process of writing so feel free to check out my profile for the other stories.**

**Disclaimer: I in no way shape form or in any dimension or alternate universe own this so don't sue me please**

Pain, pure unadulterated pain, his whole body ached, creaked, and cracked, he could feel the blood running all over his chest staining his pricey dress shirt his suit jacket was shredded as he felt a warm breeze pass over him as he was whisked down some kind of hallway. His hair was laced with sand from the desert he just came from. His eyes were finally starting to sharpen as his dizziness began to go away. His ears were not ringing anymore but there was still something wrong with him as all the sounds around him were muffled as if he was underwater trying to hear what was happening on the surface. He looked around and saw several Middle Eastern men moving him at a spirited pace on some kind of bed or stretcher. He looked straight up and saw rectangular lights on the ceiling "Hospital" he thought "That's what hospital hallway lights look like." He looked back to the side and noticed that the walls were not white and clean such as a hospital walls would look. They looked dirty and jagged as if roughly carved out of rock and nobody bothered to dull the edges of what was left, he was positive that he could easily cut himself on the walls even if he was careful in touching them. The stretcher bumped and skidded as the men continued to push. The muffling of his ears began to subside as he could now hear the men pushing him through the passageway were seemingly arguing about something although he never bothered to learn Arabic so he could not even hazard a guess as to what they could be arguing about.

Suddenly there was a flash over his face and then another flash and then another and another until he was sure he would be permanently blinded by the flashing. After he regained his eye sight he saw that it was a young man with a very old disposable camera who was taking pictures of him for some reason. He tried to move his arms to grab onto something but found them bound to the stretcher he was in; he quickly discovered his legs were in the same state. He was now bleeding out through his chest and bound to a stretcher against his will "Could not get much worse" he thought until he saw another young man holding a camera that had a little red light on it. "Great now they are recording me on my death bed" he pondered the whole death bed part of his last thought, it was then that the realization that he could die in this moment in some section of the middle east without his friends by his side hit him; No Pepper, no Rhodey, no Happy. He began to cry as the stretcher stopped in front of two large green double doors that looked like they had come off of some old bomb shelter from during the cold war.

The doors were big and heavy, he could tell by the fact that it took four very large men on each door to open it enough for the stretcher to slip through. He could see two men of roughly the same height talking as the stretcher approached them. The first voice appeared to be in charge as his voice was much more authoritative than the other voices and demanded respect and mainly because when he spoke everyone else shut the hell up. The voice of the second man sounded calm and soothing as if he knew everything would be ok if he did all he could to help. He started going through everything he would miss after he died since given all he had done he doubted heaven would unlock the front door for him, his cars, his toys, Jarvis, his workshop perfectly cluttered and messy just how he liked it to be, and especially his friends if he managed to somehow survive this he would make it up to them for all his mistakes but at this point he knew that it was a big if given the whole bleeding to death in some cave bomb shelter thing in the Middle East somewhere. He was quite confused and worried when he entered but his worry became fear when he understood one word that was spoken by the one of the two men "Stark" one of them said his name.


	2. Hangover from Hell

**Disclaimer: Own Nothing**

3 hours earlier

The pounding in Tony's head was resounding, a consequence of the current problem he was dealing with. The hangover of hell was what Tony Stark was dealing with at the moment from the previous farewell party he threw last night, it was only a small party after all 150 maybe 200 people in all and a very open bar. His private jet was making its final approach to the military base where he was meeting with James Rhodes, his best friend who happened to be a Lieutenant in the Marines and thanks to Stark's personal recommendation the liaison between the U.S. military and Stark Industries. The plane landed and Stark grabbed some Aspirin and stepped to the exit of the jet. The door opened and Stark immediately spotted Rhodes who was trying to keep calm, Tony could always tell when Rhodes was annoyed. Rhodes was black and taller than Tony standing around six foot tall, and had short buzzed haircut. James was wearing his military uniform and was shaking his head and looking to Tony for answers "What?" asked Tony when he approached. Rhodes held up his watch obviously bringing up that Tony was late. "I'm only a little late" said Tony in his defense.

"You were supposed to be 14 hours ago Tony" stated James leading Stark into the hangar where his plane was being stored. "Please tell me you're not drunk right now" said Rhodes hoping against hope.

"Of course I'm not drunk" replied Tony gaining a sigh of relief from Rhodes. "I'm hung-over but I'm not drunk" he continued causing a head shake from James. "It was just a small get together."

"Your definition of a small get together is very different from the rest of the world" said Rhodes promptly opening the door of an empty conference room and ushering Tony in. "Okay here's the deal, you're lucky that the military is completely in love with what you have to offer and officially has no problem with your complete lack of punctuality."

"What about unofficially?" asked Stark.

"Unofficially a few of the more powerful leaders are pushing to make a side deal with Hammer Industries" explained James taking a seat at the conference table.

Tony rolled his eyes at the mere mention of Hammer Industries supposedly Starks primary rival in weapons development although Stark didn't really see it that way. Their stuff had the tendency of being broken more times than not and even when it was working Starks weapons were a much better product. "Justin Hammer, the little pigmy" remarked Stark.

"Well you aren't much bigger buddy" replied Rhodes trying to lighten the mood. Which was true Stark was not tall by any means standing about five foot eight with black hair with a matching goatee. He was wearing a very nice suit with a green tie. "So the plan is easy I am going to meet with the generals in the field while you will stay here. We will link up this conference room with a screen in the field where you will make the pitch from the safety of this location."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa I believe that I was supposed to be there for the actual field test" said Tony always being more of a hands on type in making sales pitches.

"That was before the recent increase of hostilities in the area in the last week or so. We can't risk civilian personnel right now" explained James.

"Good you shouldn't but I'm not military personnel" remarked Stark staring out a window.

"Oh really if you're not civilian personnel, what are you?" asked Rhodes playing along.

"I am under contract to supply nearly all weapons for the U.S. military and her allies that makes me military personnel. So can I get me one of those helmets with the MP on them?" said Stark trying to convince James to let him come. Rhodes shook his head no "C'mon Rhodey please, pretty please" begged Stark.

"No Tony and that's it okay? When the pitch is done I'll come back to base and we can have lunch or something in the mess hall" explained Rhodey turning his back to Stark and heading for the door.

Tony looked out the window and spotted one of the new helicopters he designed for the military a few months prior, which gave him an idea. "Alright Rhodey, you convinced me I will stay right here until the pitch okay?" stated Stark smiling.

"And that's it? No crazy tricks or something?" asked James with doubt hinting in his words.

"Yep nothing I promise" said Tony holding up his right hand as if taking an oath in court.

James smiled and nodded "Good I will see you when we fire up the conference in about an hour" he said walking out the door and started heading towards a few Humvees that were parked outside. As the convoy drove off the base and heading for the location of the field test Stark was simply smiling like a spoiled rich kid on Christmas.

Rhodes arrived at the sight of about ten military officials he walked by shaking hands with several as he walked seeing that the conference equipment had already been set up so he didn't need to do anything except turn the power on. He took a deep breath and turned to face the awaiting officials "Ladies and Gentlemen I am honored and privileged to bring to you the owner of Stark Industries and my personal friend Mr. Tony Stark" he said proudly turning on the screen expecting to see Tony smiling ready to give his speech about his newest weapons but instead all he saw was a young solider with a dumbfounded look on his face. "What is going on?" asked Rhodes almost throwing himself into the screen at the solider.

"Uhhh sir Mr. Stark told me to tell you that he is currently inbound to your position" explained the solider.

"Inbound?" questioned Rhodes out loud. The song "Back in Black" started blasting over the wind as a chopper approached the group. "Oh please no" muttered James under his breath.

The song blared as the chopper circled around the meeting causing the sand of the desert to kick up all around the officials. A rope dropped down from the helicopter landing a short distance from Rhodes leading to a man descending from the chopper the ground. The man unhooked himself and waved the chopper off. The man turned and was revealed to be none other than Tony Stark. Stark pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number and put it up to his ear after a few moments he spoke into the cell "Hey Pepper I need a new suit and tie I got desert all over the one I'm wearing. So new suit and a green tie" Stark looked at his tie carefully "Hey Rhodey is this forest green?" he asked gaining only a shocked James Rhodes with his mouth wide open. "Uhh yeah make that a forest green tie. See you when I get back" he said hanging up his phone. "How about that for an entrance?" joked Tony beginning to walk toward the potential buyers.

Rhodes walked quickly to intercept Tony grabbing him by the arm and pulling him behind some crates to shield them from view. "What are you doing?" asked Rhodes.

"Selling the merchandise what's the problem" replied Stark.

"You can't go around commandeering military equipment every time you are in the mood for a joy ride" scolded James.

"I designed and built that helicopter I was just testing to make sure it works and that all the components are all functional and don't worry they work. Did you hear that sound system I designed that personally it sounded awesome inside the chopper but did you get the full quality down here?" replied Stark.

"Don't change the subject. You promised you wouldn't do something like this, you promised you were going to stay put" ranted James his anger causing some veins to start showing on his forehead.

"It's not my fault that you actually believed me, I mean c'mon you've known me for years you should know by now that I don't keep promises like that" explained Stark. The next five minutes were filled with Rhodes scolding Tony about protocols and taking too much risk which Stark basically ignored him until he finished. Rhodes stepped away and moved behind the group of buyers and let Tony give his demonstration. Tony stepped in front of the group. "Peace. Peace is not given, peace is not earned, peace must be taken. The one who usually takes the peace is the one who has the biggest stick. I have heard it said that it doesn't matter who carries the biggest stick, what matters more is who is swinging said stick. Well to those people I say this, isn't it nice to have the biggest stick too?" the generals snickered. "So without further ado Gentlemen and the one lady in the back who kind of looks like a man, I introduce you to Jericho." Stark pulled a tarp off of a stand and revealed a missile system. "The bible story says 7 days of trumpets blowing caused the walls of Jericho to fall. This Jericho missile" Stark stopped to give a dramatic pause. "Let's just say this Jericho missile is a little more efficient than 7 days of playing the trumpet. It will do more than knock down walls, it will level entire mountains" the group stepped forward in anticipation as Tony lifted up the fire button. Tony hit the button and the weapon headed for a small mountain behind him in the distance. As the missile approached the mountain Stark muttered "Time for the big finish" pressing a second button on the trigger causing the side casing on the missile to blow out and release smaller missiles that landed on the mountainside, and then nothing. The group looked at Stark with confused faces and Stark simply smiled and said "oops looks like I jumped the gun on the whole big finish thing" Stark hit a third button causing the little missiles to explode tearing up the mountain and sending a huge dust cloud straight into the group of generals who immediately started coughing heavily. Stark stepped through the cloud with a case. "Scotch anyone?" he asked as the cloud of dust cleared.

Tony spent an hour sweet talking with all of the generals before spotting Rhodey sitting on the bumper of a Humvee just watching them all. Stark stepped over to take a seat next to him. "How you doing buddy?" he asked nonchalantly.

"I'm alright I guess. It's just that I wish you wouldn't do that" stated Rhodes.

"Do what?" asked Stark looking over the people who were burning through his supply of scotch.

"Lie to me so much I mean I get that you wanted to be here and everything but when you lie to me it just makes me question whether or not you've lied to me about other stuff" explained Rhodes.

Stark moved to speak when his phone went off he pulled it out and realized that it was his alarm saying he needed to get back to the plane. He sighed "Look I got to go next time your back in the states we'll do lunch" he said moving to get into one of the Humvees.

"Hold up take a few of the guys with just for security" stated Rhodes moving over to a group of six soldiers explaining to them what he wanted. They joined Stark in the Humvee.

Stark pulled out his cell phone and dialed Obadiah Stane's number. The phone dialed for a minute before Stark heard the gruff and tired voice of Obadiah Stane "Hello?"

"Obadiah it's Tony you sleeping?" asked Tony without really thinking.

"I was yeah" replied Stane.

"Oh well I called to let you know I just finished the pitch" explained Stark.

"So how did it go?" asked Stane with a hint of excitement in his voice.

"Well they did drink all the scotch and when I say all the scotch I mean all the scotch even my secret stash I keep in the compartment in the side of the case" informed Tony.

"Good to hear listen I'll talk to you tomorrow at the budget meeting" said Stane wishing to return to bed.

"Do I really have to go I mean really everything gets the funding it needs thanks to our military contracts so why do I need to be there?" pleaded Stark.

"Because you are the primary owner and the whole board is going to be there and I hear they want to push for more work on the arc reactor" explained Stane.

"That stupid reactor we have pushed that tech as far as we can there is nothing else we can really do with it" replied Tony with frustration.

"Well you can tell them that tomorrow good night Tony" said Stane hanging up the phone.

Stark sighed heavily putting his phone away until he noticed the soldiers looking at him with questioning eyes. Stark turned on his radio putting the song "TNT" on repeat and turning the volume up and staring out the window for few minutes until he felt the eyes of the soldiers on him again. "Okay ask me all you want" stated Stark knowing that the men were simply curious. He spent the trip taking pictures and signing autographs until he heard a loud bang from a distance. "What was that?" he asked when the explosion hit in front of the Humvee causing it to flip over on its top and slide ten yards down the road. Stark groaned when he finally got his wits about him. Two of the troops were dead inside the Humvee while the other four were outside firing into the distance. Then one fell having been shot and killed by their attackers. Stark took this as a sign and exited the upside down vehicle hoping to escape to a good hiding spot where he could stay until Rhodes came to help them. "Surely they heard the explosion and all of this shooting" he told himself out loud. He saw a small rock formation ten yards away from the road where he felt he could stay until help came. He ran, faster than he thought he could possibly run until he got right in front of the rocks, he felt safe for the first time since the explosion until he heard a light thud in front of him. A missile had landed right in front of him; the last thing he saw was the writing on the side of the missile, it said Stark Industries.


	3. Yinsen

**My Thor story is now done so my full attention will now be on this one hopefully I can update on a regular basis**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Tony had been laying for what felt like hours, he did not have the will to open his eyes, he didn't want to open his eyes and discover that his nightmare was in fact reality. Too say that he was sore would be the understatement of the century, he felt like someone took a sledge hammer and drove railroad nails into his chest. He finally opened his eyes and was greeted with a dark room that was only lit near the middle where there was a small fire going in a pit. He could see a man tending the fire with a stick. Stark remembered all the pain he felt while he was on the stretcher, the feeling of his blood covering his upper body from the wounds on his chest. Almost subconsciously he began to feel his chest and nearly choked when he felt wires and tubes coming out of his chest. He followed the wire off of the bed he was laying on and found that it connected to a car battery that was sitting on a small table next to him. The man must have heard Stark grunt because he had made his over to Tony who was freaking out about his chest being hooked up to a car battery. "Be calm" said the man who placed his hand on Starks' shoulder. "You are safe for now okay but only if you leave that stuff alone" he explained calmly.

Tony looked the man in the eyes and did not see any form of deception so he decided to trust this man for now as he was the only other one in what Tony assumed to be a cell of some kind. His throat was dry as the desert he was "water" he pleaded. The man who he could see a little better now appeared to about the same age as Obadiah was, he was tall and thin and he looked like he hadn't eaten a good meal in years. He was bald on top of his head with black hair that was peppered with gray hair and the light glinted off his glasses that hung on his nose. The man put a small bowl full of water up to Tony's mouth allowing him to drink it slowly. Tony choked at first but was able to drink all the water in the bowl. "How long have I been out?" he asked grimacing from the pain in his chest.

"It's been two days since you arrived" replied the man who had an accent that Tony did not recognize.

Tony sat up slowly careful to not mess up the wires coming out of his chest, he felt much heavier than he did before which is when he tore open the shirt he was wearing to find a circular metal cover in the center of his chest. "What is that?" he asked breathlessly almost ready to start panicking.

The man opened his mouth to explain when the large double doors to their room started to open. "Get up and let me do the talking" he ordered helping Stark to stand up next to him. The door opened and a group of Middle Eastern men entered and surrounded Tony and the man. A large fatter man entered soon after the group and approached Tony with a smile. His teeth were yellow and his breath nearly made Stark throw up what little contents his stomach had. He had a full beard but he was beginning to bald, he was wearing camouflage clothing which told Tony what he had already expected which was whoever was holding him was some kind of armed group and given the crude nature of the room he was being kept he assumed a terrorist group of some kind. He circled Tony like vulture eyeing its next meal. He spoke in what Tony assumed to be Arabic and the man who had been there when he woke up turned to Tony "He says you are shorter than he expected."

"Well you can tell him that he's uglier than I expected" replied Tony with a genuine smile on his face. His fellow prisoner now translator told the fat one something and his captor started laughing like a school girl. "You didn't tell him what I said did you?"

"Nope" he replied nodding his head at the fat man.

"What's your name?" Tony asked watching his captors carefully.

"Yinsen pleasure to meet you Mr. Stark" responded Yinsen offering his hand to shake.

Stark shook his hand briskly and smiled "What does he want exactly?" asked Stark hating the fact that he did not understand anything that they were saying about him or too him.

"They want you to make weapons for them, powerful weapons" explained Yinsen with a dire look on his face "If you make them weapons they say they will let you go."

Tony scoffed "Somehow I doubt that is true."

"Yes, they will never let you walk out of here alive" explained Yinsen pushing his glasses back up off his nose.

Stark looked his captor in the eyes and smiled "No" he said quickly and with confidence brimming off of him. The man seemed to understand and one of the soldiers slapped Tony on the back of his head. The group soon followed the fat man out of the room and left Tony and Yinsen to themselves. After sitting for a few minutes to settle himself down Tony finally spoke to Yinsen "So you know who I am?"

"Everyone knows who you are. You are Tony Stark a great inventor and seen by many in this country as a war monger" said Yinsen sitting on a bed across the room from Tony's.

"I'm no war monger I just make things that go boom" explained Tony stretching out his neck and examining the metallic object lodged in his chest.

"Making the weapon is just as bad as firing it Mr. Stark" replied Yinsen.

Stark decided not to be snarky and changed the subject "So what is this thing in my chest exactly?"

"The missile that injured you damaged your heart severely to the point where it would stop beating after a few minutes without some kind of electric current running through it. I removed a section of your chest and put in that cavity which acts as a sort of implant to help your heart keep beating" explained Yinsen moving to examine his handy work.

"So the car battery is powering it I assume" said Tony pointing at the battery while he spoke. Yinsen nodded stepping back from Tony "The battery is a little cumbersome don't you think?" remarked Tony.

"Oh I'm sorry for improvising a heart implant in a cave in the middle of the desert in order to save your life" said Yinsen sarcastically.

Tony weighed the options in his head and nodded "Did I say cumbersome? I meant how geniusly crafted this whole contraption is." Yinsen shook his head and turned to tend to the fire. Tony approached he was not the best at showing appreciation which is kind of to be expected since he was an only child and a genius on top of that. He never really needed anyone in the long run, sure he had friends and people who worked for him that he considered friends like his driver Hogan and his assistant Pepper but he didn't completely need them to survive, he could take care of himself but looking at his current situation and the man who was tending the fire in front of him, he was going to need Yinsen, he was his only link to survival without Yinsen he would be dead and only Yinsen could explain everything to him. He decided in that moment to trust Yinsen with everything he had given Yinsen was in no better situation than he was aside from having a car battery powering his heart. Tony sat next to Yinsen next to the fire and he warmed himself in the heat.


	4. Price of Refusal and Inspiration

**I have no defense for vanishing since January. I will do my best to update when I can.**

**Disclaimer: I Own Nothing **

It had been roughly 2 and half hours since the fat guy had left and Tony and Yinsen had been sitting in relative silence except for when Tony asked about his very rudimentary pacemaker. Tony looked over the contraption on his chest and could only sit and think about how his days were obviously numbered unless he could figure out a better system. Tony's mind suddenly flashed to his home in LA all his stuff and his workshop, Jarvis would definitely be keeping up the house as best as he could being a computer and all, he supposed Pepper and Happy would handle the rest until he got back. He was pulled from his thoughts as the large doors scrapped along the sandy ground as they opened, the fat one was back again but this time he looked scared as if things just took a bad turn. He spoke again and Yinsen translated " He is asking you to make them powerful weapons that can level mountains."

"Once again, No" replied Tony standing next to Yinsen prepared to take another hit to the head for his refusal but unusually the pain didn't come only a laugh from near the entrance to their cave cell. " I must be funny if I'm making guys laugh without trying."

Yinsen shook his head "Tony be quiet" he ordered as a man stepped out from behind a group of men.

The man was tall, lean, his head shaved bald and he was definitely the one who was laughing before. " " he said speaking nearly perfect English. Tony could tell that this one was different, he had a level of intelligence that Tony could sense, he had a tangible swagger that he carried as he boldly walked obviously trying to draw the attention of everyone in the room. "You will make my weapons" he said definitively to Tony coming mere inches from his face, almost daring Tony to try something on him.

Tony stared into the eyes of the man and saw an emptiness, a man void of mercy and a man who has dealt plenty of death over his time "No" Tony said making a point of staring right into the deep brown eyes of the man who procededd to smile back at Tony which both confused and scared Tony.

The man shouted something in what Tony now assumed was Arabic at some of his men who scurried off. They simply waited in silence of seconds turned into minutes until finally they returned only this time with another captive who was wearing desert camo pants and a simple white tank top shirt and a bag over his head, the man was white obviously an American soldier since Tony could see an Army Rangers tattoo on his arm. The man removed the bag from the prisoners head and Tony recognized the man almost immediately although Tony wouldn't really call him a man given he looked no older than 18 years old, the kid was one of the troops that Rhodey had sent as his security. The man pulled a gun out of his pocket, displaying it to Stark and the captive who was gagged so he could not speak. The man knealt next to the soldier grabbing him by the chin and facing him so he could look Tony directly in the face "That man could have prevented this and saved you from this terrible fate young one." The man then stood and raised the gun to the soldiers head.

"No, wait I'll do it ok? I'll make your weapons, you win" said Stark hoping to spare the young man's life.

"I'm afraid that time has passed " the man said pulling the trigger and causing Tony's world to go into slow motion. He could hear and feel the gun discharge, the hammer dropping and causing the bullet to be sent hurtling down the barrel. He could see the muzzle flash as the bullet left the gun and entered the skull of the young soldier. The young man's eyes that were so full of life before the attack days earlier soon went lifeless as his body fell to the side. Tony was watching his eyes almost waiting for them to blink or close by themselves like in the movies, but they didn't move, not a flicker of life was left in them, only emptiness remained. The man walked up to Tony's face "Everyday you do not work I will march a prisoner in here and tell them how you could have saved them and then I will kill them the exact same way I did him and don't forget that prisoners are not hard to come by in this place. My men will return for a list of supplies later today and then tomorrow you will begin work and you will not stop until I have what I want." The leader led his men out of the room and they left the body where it layed almost making a point of making Tony look at it for an extended period of time.

Yinsen reacted first running his hand over the young mans face closing the boy's eyes before covering the head with a small blanket. Yinsen said a short prayer to himself before turning his attention to Tony, who was in shock. Yinsen had seen plenty of death over his life and most of it while he was in the possession of the Ten Rings. "C'mon Tony we do not have time to mourn right now, if you do not have a list of supplie for them when they return he will kill another" Yinsen explained.

The statement woke Tony up as he began to ponder what to do, what he would need when he came up with a plan and began compiling a list of equipment and supplies he would need to get his plan moving. The men returned a few hours later collected Tony's list as well as the body of the soldier. Yinsen looked at Tony who was watching them take the body out. "He was with you when they brought you in." he said to Tony hoping to get Tony to open up about the situation.

Tony nodded when Yinsen spoke "He asked me if it was true that I had a master key to the playboy mansion" said Stark who chuckled at the thought while Yinsen simply smiled.

"He truly was a young man if all he wanted to ask you about was the playboy mansion" spoke Yinsen.

"Yeah, I'm a real monster you know?" said Tony.

"No, you are not; you did not pull the trigger, he did" explained Yinsen.

"Its not that" said Tony shaking his head. "I had a full conversation with that kid, hell I had a conversation with his whole squad. I could not tell you his name, I couldn't even give the first letter of his name."

Yinsen knealt in front of Tony and looked him in the eyes "You tried to save him once you discovered what was going to happen, not knowing the name of the young man is a shame, but you can't beat yourself up for things you can no longer change. All you can do is move on and learn from your decisions both good and bad. Now what are you planning to do?" asked Yinsen attempting to get Tony to concentrate.

"Don't worry I got that figured out I'll fill you in once its ready but I will need your help to get it to work the right way so rest up. Tomorrow its going to get real hot in here."

Tony layed down on his rough cot and slowly drifted to sleep and he dreamed. He was home again sitting in his workshop working on something that looked like a large hinge when Pepper walked in, her strawberry blonde hair bobbing in the air as she strutted toward him with his schedule in her hand. Happy was on the far right of his workshop looking over Tony's many cars and was attempting to convince Tony to let him have one of them for himself. Rhodey followed Pepper in and stopped with her at Tony's work bench. "Ok, you have a speech to give at Harvard this weekend and don't forget your giving a demonstration of the new tech to show what you have to show for all of these ridiculus hours" she said brushing some of her hair out of her face.

"Yeah, yeah speeches and demonstrations nothing new" replied Tony.

"What are you working on anyway?" asked Rhodey leaning over Tony's shoulder.

"Not sure actually" said Tony not really believing his current state, it was as if nothing had happened like he had already made it home and was back to his normal routine. His dad had always said a man usually thought his best while dreaming so Tony just looked at his work bench and spotted nothing that really stood out.

"Well you better hurry up if you want to get back home buddy" stated Rhodey looking over his own shoulder as if pointing out something to Tony who turned his head in turn to spot a large object covered in a tarp.

"What is that?" asked Tony.

"C'mon silly its what you have spent all this time working on. Its your last hope" stated Pepper watching him approach the object.

Tony reached and pulled the tarp back to see it only for a second before he jolted awake with a gasp. He was breathing hard as if he had just awoken from a nightmare, but it wasn't a nightmare. He knew part one of his plan but wasn't sure about a part two and that dream he just had showed him that part he was missing. It wouldn't be easy but he was getting out of here and he was going to get Yinsen out and he was going to kill anyone who got in their way.


	5. Life Saver

**Just Saw Iron Man 3 and it was fantastic. If you haven't seen it get to it.**

**Disclaimer: No Ownage here**

Yinsen was in awe of Tony Stark's determination to work at anything at any time, Tony had been working non-stop for nearly two days and Yinsen had worked alongside him as long as his body would hold without sleep. Very different from the man he had met briefly years earlier at a conference in Switzerland where Tony was young and brash but brilliant. He was largely ignored during the short face to face since Tony was pursuing a very good looking young women who Yinsen believed was working on some kind of new healing technology. Tony had moved quickly days prior to acertain as many missiles from their captors as he could and then dismantling them and melting some kind of alloy from their interior. Once the metal had been sufficiently worked Tony simply told him to go make a chess board or something and then right to work on working the metal as he saw fit which was about two days ago.

Raza had screwed him and Obidiah Stane does not take well to being screwed. He was literally stomping his way into a warehouse that he bought secretly with Tony's money soon after his fathers death. Stane was a balding older man who had grey hair and grey full beard that Tony often made fun of him for, Stane chuckled at how easy it was to get Tony to do something as dumb as do a live weapons test in an area in the middle east that was rampant with terrorist activity, giving Raza the time and place to strike had been all to easy, but Raza decided to go against the plan and take Tony hostage and not kill him like was supposed too. Stane entered a small room where he would wait for the video feed to fire up so he could have a short chat with Raza. Obidiah had started dealing with the Ten Rings a few months before Howard Starks death although Raza was not the intial partner. Stane originally worked with another man, a man who never showed his face or met Stane in person or even gave a name. The deal was for weapon deals under the table and allowing him access to some kind of cube that Howard had been working on for years, which would have been simple if Howard had not given the cube to those group of agents just as Stane was about to make his move. Too top of that debacle Howard began to figure out the missing weapons from his shipments and was starting to get suspicious, Stane went to his partner and tried to end the deal telling him how Stark was becoming suspicious and the deal needed to put on hold until Stane could get a more clear line of shipping out to his men. His partner laughed and said not to worry about Howard Stark and then a week later, he didn't need to anymore as Howard was killed in a car accident leaving his poor unfortunate son Tony at the tender age of 12 with a mother who had nothing to live for without her husband as she died a year later of natural causes. Stane had to raise Tony from that point on making good on his promise to his partner while Tony attended MIT and eventually handing over the company to Tony when Tony turned 21 which had only been nine years ago but it was getting more and more difficult to keep Tony looking the other way. Stane came up with an easy plan to have his partners replacement handle Tony by killing him. Stane did not trust Raza or his partner for that matter but something in Raza scared him, something in his speech screamed that he was remarkably loyal to his boss who Stane had not spoken too in probably ten years. The screen lit up and the commanding precence of Raza appeared on the screen. "What the hell is going on?" he asked quickly knowing that the longer Tony was alive the more likely he could come up with a clever escape plan.

"You did not inform us of the identity of the target , when we discovered that Tony Stark was in fact our target, I needed to inform the master and attain my directives and he chose to imprison Stark and get him to make weapons for us." Raza shifted to look at the moniters behind him where Stane could see Tony hard at work on something or other.

"The deal was for you to kill him, you assured me it would be done in reasonable time and there would be no problems, yet somehow Tony is alive and kicking" started Stane.

"Relax if you have a problem with my handling of the situation, you can take it up with my master" said Raza smiling.

"What? You mean he is coming?"

"Yes, my master is coming to retrieve another soldier who we captured during the attack on Stark. Now Good Day" said Raza turning off the scrren.

Stane was shaking with fear, no other being on this earth scared Stane like that man, it was something about how he spoke as if a teacher speaking to a student or a preacher talking to his congregation. Stane would need to be prepared for anything his partner was anything but trust worthy.

Yinsen was finishing up the last piece for the chess board when the lights went out. "They are turning off the power to recharge and change the batteries in the generator they will return in a few minutes" he said quickly not wanting Stark to panic. Suddenly a blue light turned on in front of Stark causing Yinsen to nearly jump out of is skin. The blue light was not from anything the cave and caused Yinsen to approach carefully.

"What do you think?" asked Tony feeling Yinsen looking over his shoulder.

"What is it?" asked Yinsen looking at the small disc shaped device that emitted the blue light.

"That is an arc reactor, something my dad built back in the day." Explained Tony looking over his latest work.

"A power source?" questioned Yinsen.

"Yeah I got a big one powering my complex in LA and I just successfully miniaturized it for the first time in human history" said Tony with a hint of pride.

"Incredible if it can power a whole complex than it could power anything even in its mini form" exclaimed Yinsen.

"I didn't quite get the full power out of it but it will be enough" said Tony slamming the car battery that was hooked to his chest on the work bench.

"Genius, you can use the reactor to power your heart for ages" praised Yinsen smiling profusely. Stark shook his head and started laughing, "What is so funny?" asked Yinsen.

"I only built and installed the big one at my factory because a bunch of tree huggers had their panties in a bunch and wouldn't stop picketing my factories, so I threw them a bone and installed the reactor and watched them storm off to the next guy who was ruining the environment. I dismissed it after that without a second thought and now here we are and this thing is going to save my life" explained Tony looking intently at the object.

"God has a sense of humor " said Yinsen smiling and walking away. "So now that you have a permeanet power source for your heart whats your next move?" asked Yinsen knowing that Raza will not be happy until he got his missile.

"It has enough juice to power more than just my heart" stated Tony laying out some pieces of paper. Yinsen stood to look at what Tony had. "I can get something really big moving for about 15 minutes which should be enough time to get out of here."

"This will be difficult something this size will not be easily hidden" started Yinsen.

"Yeah but it can be done, and we are going to do it so we can both go home" said Tony laying down so he could walk Yinsen through installing the reactor.


	6. No More Time Left

**Disclaimer: I am ownerless of everything except a computer**

Hooking up the arc reactor was time consuming and after some very close calls where Tony blacked out, Yinsen managed to get it working correctly, and Yinsen had assured Tony that he didn't die when he was blacked out. Tony never really believed him but hey he was breathing now so what did it matter. His captors returned the next day and supplied him with everything he needed which they thought was the Jericho missile but it was in fact parts for his hail mary, a set of armor that could get him and Yinsen out of these caves and get them to where they can get help and get home. Tony was going to take his time knowing that one miscalculation would be disasterous for both him and Yinsen. Working and playing chess was all Tony did day after day for what felt like an eternity.

Happy was hanging out in Tony's garage, just as he has been for the past three months. He had been a amateur boxer, who was trying to break out in Boston during Tony's days at MIT. Tony had gone to a fight where Happy got laid out by a some old veteran named Jack Murdock who had been visisting from New York at the time, Tony liked Happy's style and hired him as his bodyguard even at MIT where Happy was granted access to the campus and allowed to live with Tony in Tony's own dorm house which he acquired through numerous donations to the university. They became quick friends and they often sparred in the ring throughout their time together, joining Tony at Stark Industries following his take over from Stane. He had been passing the days fixing up Tony's cars and making sure his robots that he built in high school were oiled up and still cleaning the place up. He also liked to keep Jarvis company since being a computer and all he couldn't go and do anything. Tony had made Jarvis after graduating from MIT, he spent days down in the garage working. Eventually coming out and triumphantly announcing his genius just as Jarvis finished uploading Happy remembered when Tony invited Pepper, Rhodes, Obidiah and himself to witness the event, proudly announcing "Just a rather very intelligent system was now going to run his house for him" a week later he officially named him Jarvis because saying just a rather very intelligent system was way too long and hard to say all the time. Jarvis knew Tony better than anyone, even better than he did despite being on the very short list of friends that Tony had. Pepper, Tony's assistant, had taken it hard as well. She always took care of him, kept his schedule nice and tidy and saved Tony from numerous incidents that would have been rather embarrassing for not only Tony but for the company. When he first got the news he was hopeful but after three long months with no news and not finding him Happy was starting to lose hope that Tony was ever coming back.

Too say that Rhodey was stressed would be the understatement of the century, he had been looking for Tony for three months and was not going to give up now. Despite many offers of promotion, he would not call off the search until he found him. His superiors kept telling Tony was gone and just to accept it but Rhodes had started noticing about two months ago that the terrorists were running out of ammo a little quicker and that their fire power decreased which his superiors claimed was showing the success of their operations attempting to cut off their supply but James knew better. They hadn't been doing anything that they hadn't already been doing so he couldn't help but think that Tony somehow had something to do with it. He thought back to first time he met Tony when they were both at a Stark hosted party just after Tony had became the CEO of Stark Industries and was being hounded by generals and Obidiah Stane. Tony had somehow managed to bump into Rhodes and noticed his uniform, which was still an Air Force uniform since he would change to the Marines years later. Tony left him but kept eying him during the party, next thing he knew Happy Hogan came up to him and said that needed to speak with him immediately. He was briskly brought to the roof and found Tony waiting for him by a helicopter. "Hello! I need a huge favor" he stated with a smile.

James was told prior to do whatever Stark wanted since he now the golden boy of the weapons manufacturing business. "What do you need?" asked Rhodes taking a very military like stance.

"I need you to save me"

"From?"

"Bordom, I saw your uniform and I figured you could fly one of these bad ass new choppers I'm supplying the U.S. military with" said Tony with a hint of flare.

"Sir, its not really under my orders to give eccentric billionares joy rides" said Rhodey wishing to avoid getting in trouble.

"Oh? Okay" said Stark walking so that he was facing the chopper "If you can't fly it that okay, no big deal."

Rhodey's pride kicked in and he approached Stark quickly "Whoa whoa whoa, of course I can fly it." Stark nodded his head sarcasticly. James considered his options "Fine get in."

Stark clapped his hands together and then through his arms into the air "Yes!" James fired up the chopper and him and Tony flew until the cows came home which got Rhodey a huge reprimand from his commanding officer until a call came in to the general who said that Tony Stark had personally requested him to be the liason between Stark Industries and he U.S. military.

Rhodes would not give up, the general ordered that this would be the last week and after that the search will be called off. Rhodes would never give up on his best friend.

Pepper was in Tony's office tediously organizing her bosses files and his systems, Stane had requested that all of Tony's personal files be released to him so that he could begin to work through what Tony was working on in order to make the transition as smooth as possible. Pepper had strawberry blonde hair and had been Tony's assistant for most of his time as the CEO of Stark Industries. She had managed to put off organizing Tony's files for the past three months claiming that there was a lot of things to go through or that Jarvis accidently lost the message or memo that Stane had sent but she couldn't put it off any longer, she now had to think of her job and position at Stark Industries. Of course her position was only what it was because of Tony. It had been almost ten years now, she had just started working at Stark Industries, hell she was still known as Virginia, as an intern in the accounts department and as luck would have it the brand new CEO Tony Stark's newest budget was dropped on her desk, now in this situation most would send it on knowing that you do not call out your boss if he made a mistake so why risk looking it over and finding one, she couldn't help herself and looked them over and wouldn't you know she spotted a sixty million dollar mistake, she checked it at least a dozen more times and tried to go to her supervisor who promptly ignored anything regarding a mistake by Tony Stark. This fact forced her to go to the top and bring it up to Stark himself knowing that if she didn't say anything and the mistake was discovered after the fact she would be blamed for it and uncermoniusly kicked out of the chance of having a job with any multibillion dollar company ever. Next thing she knew she was on the elevator and selected the top number available, she stepped out, just when and Stark were walking from the stairs that led to the roof. "I just don't understand why I need an assistant."

"Because Tony you have too much on your plate as it is since your convinced that the best way to run the company is to be heavily involved in as many aspects as possible. For you having an assistant is even more important" explained Stane.

"I'll look over the list okay now can I go into my office and enjoy myself please?" pleaded Tony.

"Fine, but I'm serious Tony, you need an assistant by the end of the week" commanded Stane going down the elevator to his own office a floor below.

Stark walked to his receptionist and looked over the calls he missed, he looked up and noticed his receptionist making googly eyes at him. She wasn't particularly attractive with her jacked up dental work and big eyes that were behind her glasses "Don't stare at me, you got the whole bug eyes thing going on and it creeps me out" said Tony bluntly before going into his office. He stopped and turned back around "Sorry about the bug eyes thing, anyone shows up just tell them I'm not in." he ordered closing his door.

Pepper approached the desk "Hello I'm here to see " the receptionist was about to speak when banging was heard it Starks office and he came diving out of the room.

"Hello, I'm Tony Stark. How can I do you today…er….I mean how can I help you today?" he asked rather incrediously. She put forth her best fake smile of flattery and entered Tony's office feeling his presense as he followed her in and offering her a seat across from his desk. He sat down and looked her over as she talked to him about the mistake she found which he promptly ignored until she told him, he was the one who made the mistake. This caught his attention as he quickly scanned the document almost arrogantly expecting to prove her wrong, until his face went from arrogant to surprised and then he looked at her, "Whats your name?" he asked taking out a note pad.

"Virgina Potts, I'm in accounting"

Tony shook his head "You don't look like a Virginia, I just cant seem to place a name for you, not sure what it is but you are definitely not a Virginia."

"Well, I am" she replied briskly,

"I don't know what you've heard about me but I don't make mistakes" he said with a major dose of arrogance.

"Well you did" she replied without thinking immediately regretting the decision.

Tony smiled and then Stane came in "You insulted your receptionist?" this brought Tony out of his daze and she took the opprutunity to vacate the area. A week later she arrived to find a note on her desk.

Dear Pepper,

Turns out you were right I do make mistakes, just don't expect to find them all the time. I have chosen to demote you from your illustrious position in accounting and force you to be my personal assistant which will of course come with a substantial pay upgrade and free access to my home and office since I will be spending most of my time at home.

P.S. I figured out what name fits I came up with Pepper so I have taken the liberty of addressing you as such and will do so from this point on, oh and I need you to go outside and find Happy he'll get you to the plane for your trip to New York to get the scotch I just paid half a million dollars on at an auction. Have a nice trip and see you soon Pepper.

She had been his assistant ever since, but now that Tony had been gone for three months she realized just how much she missed having him around, his smile and his sarcasm despite his many flaws, he had managed to carve out a niche for her. She would not and could not give up the hope that he was coming back.

The frustration in Raza had been growing ever since his meeting with Stane who had done nothing but complain even after his master spoke with him about the matter. The master also took his last prisoner from Stark's security team in the Humvee a man by the name of Eric Savin whom the master took after a lengthy discussion with the man. Savin looked awfully comfortable with the master which made Raza nervous, the master was not comfortable with everyone and if Savin and him were comfortable than certainly that meant Savin was in the new project that the master was working on. Raza knew he needed to get these missiles now if he was to stay on his masters good side.

It was ready after three months the armor was ready to get charged up, it would take a few days but it was ready. Tony was enjoying a rather challenging game of chess with Yinsen when the leader which Tony had learned was named Raza. He kicked the chess board across the room. "My missile will be ready tomorrow or he will die" he shouted while pointing at Yinsen. He stormed out quickly and slammed the door behind him.

"Looks like we move in the morning" stated Tony.

"But you said it would take a few days" replied Yinsen who was now extremely worried.

"Well looks like tomorrow is going to have to do" said Tony laying down to rest up for the big. "I'm coming guys one way or another" he said to himself as he drifted off to sleep.


	7. Don't Waste It

**Dislcaimer: I own nothing**

They awoke early to prepare the armor, it was big and would be slow and cumbersome but it would get the job done. Tony continually went over the route out of the cave that he learned after convincing the guards that he needed some fresh air every once in awhile in order to work better. The route was memorized and now it was just about getting as much charge into the armor as he could. Tony knew that Raza would waste little time in coming to get his missile. Yinsen had been in a frenzy getting Tony straped up so that he would stay put in the suit and not fall out of the correct place, it was key that Tony stay in the right place since he needed to activate the various weapons that the suit had. The arc reactor would power the suit long enough for Stark and Yinsen to get away from Raza and his ten rings lackeys.

Raza was sitting outside looking over his army, the army he would soon arm with the Jericho missile. The villages nearby would tremble in fear when he unleashed the weapon on the American forces in the area. He turned to a handful of his men "Go and get Stark and bring me my missile" he ordered not wanting to waste anymore time. Once the missile worked Stark would be publically executed since they have his entire work on the missile on tape thanks to his cameras.

Yinsen started the boot up process which would take several minutes and went back to strapping in Stark when he heard men talking in the passage leading up to their cell. "Oh no" he said looking up to Stark.

"Don't panic okay? We can handle this" assured Stark looking at the where the boot up process was. Even with the bomb trap they laid at the door there still would not be enough time for Tony to fully boot up the suit given how quickly Raza's men would be on them once the explosion happened. The men got closer to the door and moved to open it "Oh boy, get down" he told Yinsen. The doors blew open thanks to Tony setting up a bit of the explosives from the missiles he borrowed from the ten rings, the men were dead that much Tony could guarantee but reinforcements would be coming very soon.

Raza nearly fell out of his chair when he heard the explosion, he ran into the room where the camera feed was and saw smoke all in the room and the passage leading into the cells. "Go,Go" he ordered a group of his men as others began walking from the outside camp to the entrance of the cave.

Yinsen stood after diving behind a table. "You okay buddy? Based on the large explosion I just heard and saw the aftermath for I assume the trap worked.

Yinsen coughed and looked to see where the boot up process was, it was still several minutes away "Not enough time" he muttered before turning to look at Stark. "I'm going to buy you some time my friend" he said picking up a machine gun that one of the guards dropped during the explosion.

"No, no, no" Tony shouted "Stick to the plan, stay here." Yinsen was gone and Tony heard him firing shots off to try and scare the incoming guards. "YINSENNNNN!" he cried.

Yinsen ran down the passage setting off the occasional round in his machine gun hoping to frighten the guards who were coming toward him and it appeared to be workingas he was almost to the entrance of the cave. He turned the corner to find the entrance and Raza who was flanked by nearly a dozen men. Yinsen stopped in his tracks and dropped his gun knowing that shooting now would only cost Stark more time.

Raza approached Yinsen slowly wanting to savor this moment, the master had insisted that Yinsen be left alive as long as possible but thankfully for Raza the Master had instructed him to kill both Stark and Yinsen once the missile was complete. Yinsen had known the Master years before his rise to power and was the only person the Master allowed to live as a way of torturing him. Raza pulled out a knife and came face to face with Yinsen "The Master sends his regards."

Tony could hear more guys coming but noticed that the suit had booted all the way up. "Here we go" he said pulling himself off of the hooks the armor was held by and lowering the helmet covering him from head to toe in metal. He looked to see three guys searching the room for him. Moving silently was not an option given the creaking and smacking of the metal suit he was wearing so he decided to bull rush them and see what the armor could take. He charged in a light jog since running at full bore was not an option. He the guards napping and managed to shoulder check one of them and then deliver a backhand to the other two clearing out the room. "Okay, I guess that it works" he said as he left the room and began walking down the passage. He would occasionally run into a guard or two on the way but they were quickly dispatched thanks to the armor. Tony was happy he remembered the way out correctly as he turned a corner and found the entrance which was surprisingly empty. He looked around and spotted a body, a body that belonged to Yinsen. "No!" he said as he ran kneeled next to Yinsen's body that was sitting up by a wall. "Hey you okay buddy?" said Stark looking at Yinsen's wound that Tony could see was not going to be treatable in a desert without supplies. Tony began looking around in a panic, looking for anything to stop the bleeding.

"Tony it's okay, it's okay. I can be with my family now" Tony looked back at Yinsen with tears in his eyes. "You have been givin a second chance Tony, not many get them, before you came here you were a pompous, arrogant, nearly inhuman person, you now can change your legacy Tony, change the legacy of your entire family. You have a second chance at life Tony, don't waste it" said Yinsen as his breath left him.

Tony was is shock, Yinsen was gone, he had given his life to get Tony out and free him from the shackles of Raza and the Ten Rings. They were going to pay with everything that they have. He approached the entrance where Raza was waiting for him. "Hello . I had a feeling that you and Yinsen would try something but I must admit I did not forsee such a contraption from you" Tony was standing a few feet from Raza and waited. "Don't fret over his death, you will be joining him shortly."

"I haven't earned the right to go where he's going, but I'll be happy to send you to hell" said Tony raising his arm and lighting the fuse on a small fire rocket and firing at Raza who took the rocket in the stomach and was driven from the cave down into a pile of ammunition that caused an explosion that started setting off the other weapons that the Ten Rings had in stock. The troops started getting hit by the cookoff of the bullets and other weapons and they started running away knowing that things were not going their way. Tony fired up his rudimentary flamethrowers and started burning all the rest of the ammo the explosion didn't take care of. As he walked through a stray bullet that had been fired off by the heat caught a exposed tube in Tony's armor prompting the suit to lose it's ability to move "I hope the boosters work" remarked Tony hitting a button that fired up two boosters in his boots that sent him flying into the air for several miles. After a handful of miles the boosters lost all the fuel and promptly dropped to the ground like a ton of bricks.

Tony pulled the helmet off his head and looked around "I think they work" he said to himself wishing that he had Jarvis to make some kind of obviously comment. He pulled himself out of the ground and looked around "Well crap, here I am stuck in a desert with no water or shelter, great start Tony, great start" he said to himself as he started walking in the direction away from the caves.

Rhodes was beginning to lose hope he was running out of time tomorrow the general was calling off the search and Rhodes would certainly be shipped to another post in order to get him away from the situation. They were making one last pass when Rhodes spotted someone walking in the desert. The figure started waving their hand in the air. "Right there go down right there" he told the pilot who brought the chopper around.

Tony was waving franticly as the chopper turned around and landed a distance away. James Rhodes came running out of the chopper and Tony collapsed into his arms as he approached. Tony was crying as the force of what he had accomplished hit him, he had made it against all odds and for the highest of prices. He wasn't going to waste his second chance, he was going to change the world.


	8. Back and Better Than Ever

**Feel free to check out the Hulk story I just started if your interested**

**Disclaimer: I Own Nothing**

Coulson was enjoying his first peaceful night of sleep in almost a month, when his phone rang. He groaned as he looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Director Fury. Fury had him criss crossing the world on the look out for more possible portals to Asgard, and to keep searching for possible canidates for the new created Avengers Initiative. Needless to say finding canidates has been quite the chore since Fury has decided not to use any of Xavier's mutants. Coulson answered the phone "Hello Sir, what do you need?" the briefing was quick but he was on the quickest flight to Los Angeles to have a discussion with one Tony Stark, who had somehow managed to escape from the Ten Rings group that had attacked and taken him hostage, Coulson remembered having Shield search teams combing the desert looking for Stark with no luck. Fury wanted Stark questioned about how he escaped and any information he could give on the Ten Rings themselves since they were near the top of the Shield's most wanted organizations list. He arrived very early for Starks return and waited with the media in preparation for Starks arrival which was about an hour away.

Tony was funneled onto a cargo ship almost immediately after arriving on the base that Rhodes took him too after picking him up. Rhodey rode with him in order to keep him company on the flight over, Tony managed to get his hands on a razor and shaved his now beard down to his signature goatee. Rhodes laughed after Stark shaved causing Tony to look over "What? Sue me for wanting to look good for my first appearance since everything happened." Tony laid down and rested the rest of the trip until he was shaken awake by Rhodes when they arrived. The ramp lowered and Tony was offered a wheelchair to help ease his exit "A wheelchair? Really?"

"They wanted to make sure we offered" explained James shooing the wheelchair away.

Tony looked out and spotted Happy standing next to his car and Pepper next to him with a stack of papers and a folder. Tony walked off the plane and approached the duo "Here is an update of everything that you have missed for the last three months" explained Pepper handing Tony stacks of papers and charts.

"Good to see you too Pepper" he remarked ceremoniously throwing the papers into the back of his car and turning to Happy.

"Told you I should have went" said Happy pulling Tony in for a hug, bringing up how he had originally wanted to go with Tony to the Middle East just to watch his back.

"I had an army to watch my back" remarked Tony.

"Yeah and they did a great job" replied Happy sarcasticly.

Tony shrugged his shoulders "I guess you have a point there." Tony looked over his car, "She looks good."

"I would hope so I spent all my free time keeping all your cars up to snuff" explained Happy trying to assure his boss.

"Tony we need to be getting to the press conference, the media is waiting for a statement" explained Pepper hoping to get Tony moving.

"Okay, but admit it Pepper, you missed me" said Tony with a smile. Pepper stayed stone faced and didn't answer simply opening the door to the back seat and motioning for Tony to get in. "Fine but you will admit you missed me at some point." Tony sat and waited for Happy and Pepper to get in up front and leaned into the space between their two seats. "Okay before we go I need a burger from Burger King, fries from Mcdonalds, a baja blast from Taco Bell, and a frosty from Wendys" he said boldly leaning back to enjoy the leather seat he was now sitting in. Pepper sighed and Happy started driving towards downtown in order to get through Tony's list of fast food. While they drove Tony pulled up the papers that Pepper brought him concerning the company. The stock dropped when he went missing but had been slowly rebounding since especially in the weapons department, several new contracts with the government had been agreed to in his abcense. The stock would boost with his return but Tony had a feeling his press conference would most likely destroy any boost since his return was announced by Stane as soon as he was contacted by Rhodey who was following in a government issue car behind most likely speaking with generals about how he found him. They picked up Tony's food and started making their way to Stark Industries where the media was waiting for him.

Stane was sweating looking over the lobby from the second floor of the building, Tony would be there any minute. Stane hadn't heard from the Master since Tony's escape but he knew that Tony had most likely put a dent into his group there and that would not go unpunished, on Tony or Stane since the Master would certainly blame him partially for what happened. He didn't get nervous easy but Tony was an extremely intelligent human being, so there was a chance that Tony would at least suspect that Stane had something to do with what happened. Not to mention that agent down there who requested to meet with Stark as soon as the press conference was over, was making Stane even more nervous, he knew that government was in hot pursuit of the Master and his ten rings but to have them show up so quickly means that they already know that the Ten Rings were responsible and that made Stanes partnership with them dangerous. He would need to act quickly and point suspicion away from himself. His phone rang with a text message from Pepper, it said that they were nearly there. He steadied himself and descended the stairs and headed for the entrance where he would pubically embrace the man he had attempted to have killed a few months earlier.

Tony downed the burger, fries and the frosty in a heart beat as they approached Stark Industries. Tony grabbed his baja blast and exited the car as it came to a stop in order to be pulled into a hug by Obidiah. "Good to see Tony" he said loudly in order to be heard over the mass of reporters that were throwing him questions left and right. "Lets get inside" he said into Tony's ear. He waved moving into the building going to a spot in the lobby where they had a podium set up for him to use when he spoke. "Just give them enough to write a nice little article with okay? Don't get crazy with it since we already have an exclusive interview set up with CNN" explained Stane standing right by Tony's side when he stood up to the podium.

Tony sighed and cracked his neck, he then moved to the right of the podium and sat indian style beckoning the reporters and Stane down with him. "I'm Tony Stark and I am back and better than ever, and I am ready to take Stark Industries to new heights."

A reporter raised his hand quickly "What happened?"

"I was taken prisoner and kept locked in a cave for three months and I witnessed some of the most horrible things you can imagine. I saw a young soldier, pry just into his 20's, get executed right in front of my eyes. And worse yet I saw Stark weaponry used against the very soldiers that I swore to arm and defend. This fact has led me" Tony said rising from his sitting position to move back behind the podium. "to shut down the weapons division of Stark Industries until further notice" this statement brought Stane to his feet and caused an uproar from the sea of reporters. "I will be making a decision on the what the future of Stark Industries is as soon as I have discovered what is best for all involved."

Tony left the press conference without anymore words and got in the car with Happy and Pepper completely ignoring Stane, Rhodey or that agent that tried to speak with him. He was going home for the first time in three months and didn't want the weight of having to make that announcement plaguing his mind and distracting him from truly enjoying that moment.


	9. Home Sweet Home

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Tony was staring out out of car window as they traveled down the ocean view road that led to Tony's home. He had forgotten the ocean, its smells, its majesty, another thing that his three months as a prisoner had taken away from him. He looked up front and looked over Happy and Pepper, neither had spoken since they left the press conference. He was pretty sure that Happy would be fine with dropping the weapons division at Stark since Happy really never had anything to do with the actual company. Pepper however was a much more of a wild card considering her actual job was at Stark Industries although Tony planned along the way back from the middle east to get her off the Stark Industries payroll. The market price for Stark Industries would certainly fall quite a bit but it would stabilize once he worked out his next move.

Pepper was in shock, her boss had been gone for three months and the first thing he does when he gets back is to shut down the most profitable division in his company. Not that she minded the change, she never enjoyed the weapons side of Stark Industries, Tony did often ask her opinion on projects and she often chose to try and push Tony to more peaceful projects. He didn't usually listen but he often made the more profitable decision as to Obidiah Stane's liking. Despite her disliking of the weapons division she didn't like that Tony was shutting down the division in one single move and not doing it slowly over time, shutting down too fast could not only cost Tony control of the company but it could send the company into a financial disaster it could never recover from. He was being even more reckless than usual, she knew she should talk him out of it but Tony was just as intelligent as he was reckless, he had a plan she was positive of that.

"We're here" said Happy pulling into the gate at the end of Tony's driveway. The gate opened after Happy put in the code on a panel next to the gate and he drove the car up the drive and parked just outside the front door. Tony hopped out jovially and nearly sprinted to the front door.

Tony threw open the door and shouted "Honey I'm home!"

"Welcome sir, it is most wonderful to see you" came the computerized voice of Jarvis.

Tony took off the suit jacket he was wearing and threw it onto the couch looking the house over. "Did you really miss me?" Tony asked peering around the corner to look at the kitchen. "Can you make a pizza for me real quick? I ate when I got here but I'm still hungry."

"Of course sir" replied Jarvis accessing his cooking protocols. Tony didn't feel quite at home though looking around.

Pepper and Happy came in "Did you guys clean my house while I was gone?" Tony asked with a puzzled look on his face. Pepper nodded while Happy took a seat on the couch. "You really did that? C'mon I had a system now I have to get it all fixed to the way it was" he stopped and then his eyes got big "wait you weren't in my workshop were you?"

"Well when you vanished Jarvis unlocked all the systems so yeah I was down there and I had to do at least some organizing" she stated matter a factly. This statement proceeded to sprint across the living room and down the stairs to his workshop.

"NOOOOOO" was all Pepper and Happy heard from downstairs causing them to sprint down the stairs after him. Tony was looking over his work bench when they entered his workshop. "What have you done?" Tony asked opening the various drawers looking to see where they put his tools. He spent the next twenty minutes rearraging his tools and equipment how he liked them. His robots that he built in high school soon joined him at his side and he instructed them to help arrange things to his liking.

Happy soon went back up stairs to watch T.V. while Tony disorganized Peppers work. Pepper approached Tony hoping to get him to talk about what happened feeling that he needed to get his emotions out in the open. "So do you wanna talk about it?" she asked not wanting to beat around the bush.

Tony was looking over his desk and stopped what he was doing after Pepper asked him. "Okay stop" he said causing Pepper to jump. "I promise I will talke about that hell someday but not yet. Not until I fully understand what it all will mean for me. This will take some time but I need you and everyone else to be patient with me and let me work through this on my own for now." Tony then turned back to what he was working on without missing a beat. Pepper moved to speak again but decided against choosing to go upstairs and leave Tony to his work.

She asked Happy to drive her back to Stark Industries where she could arrange Tony's schedule which was bound to get mighty busy given his recent business decision making. She reached Tony's office to find a man in a very nice suit waiting for her. "Hello, I'm agent Phil Coulson of Shield and I need to speak with as soon as possible" he said handing offering Pepper a card.

"Can't say I've heard of Shield before" said Pepper looking the card over that had a cell phone number on it.

"We tend to work as a more behind the scenes type of organization" explained Coulson with a smile.

Pepper smiled back "Well won't be in today but I will pencil you in and let you know when you can meet with him as soon as his schedule is finalized" she explained starting to walk into Tony's office. Coulson left since he needed to stop in New Mexico to speak with Jane Foster and more specifically Darcy Lewis.

Tony was ordering all the parts he was going to need to rebuild the armor and make it better than it was before. Jarvis helped him place the orders in a way that wouldn't seem suspicious to Stane or the accounting department at Stark Industries. His phone started going off, it was Stane and he was demanding to have a meeting with Stark at the research and development lab at Stark Industries. Tony sighed this was not a meeting he was looking forward too. The parts for the new reactor wouldn't be arriving for a few days and the armor parts would be an even longer wait so he figured he better get the meeting over and done with as soon as possible.


End file.
